Panama Surf Photos, Panama Surf, Surf Photographer, Photography Surf: Pavones Surf Cr

Pavones Surf is one of the most epic in America. As a matter of fact is one of the longest lefts in Latin America and truly a surfer's dream. I had been there 10 years ago and one more time last year. It was a regular week for me, some work to be finished with Panama's tourism and then received a call from my friends letting me know that the swell of the year was going to hit. Stoked about it, I took a 4 hour bus ride to meet with some friends at Santiago and jump into the "smurf ride" to drive out to playa pavones in Costa Rica.

Before I keep writing more about my trip, it is important to note that playa pavones was once part of my native country "Panama". In 1921 there was a small battle "Coto War" in between Costa Rica and Panama. Hector Zuniga Mora was the leader of this war claiming the "real" limits in between Panama and Costa Rica. Apparently Panama had won the war but since Panama has been managed by the U.S. since the early 1900's, Mr. White "Banana Company owner" decided to mediate and stop the war giving the land to Costa Rica. He could do it because of personal corporate interests with the U.S government. Thank you Mr. White for giving away one of the most epic surf breaks in the Planet! Later on the famous Dan Fowlie purchased the area and started developing it! Here is a cool video of this epic spot.

Ok, keeping up with the trip. We got there on a Friday night and looked for some hotels in Pavones. Since it was the swell of the year, everything was full. We found some pavones lodging at $10 per head a night. It was not bad but when you are done with a 5 hour surf session under the sunny days and long rides you wanna have the bathroom to your self / shower for hours to cool off. Unfortunately we were sharing 1 bathroom / 1 toilet among 5 rooms!

On Saturday, waves were picking up, 6ft to 8ft sets. The Pavones point was grinding at low tide, long long long lefts and plenty of happy people. It was time for me to measure where and how to get into this break and take some pictures of Pavones. The wave is so long that it was hard to decide where to start. I tried the inside area at first but the current was strong and in not time I was all the way in the bay. Walked out again and went as far as I could and just fought the current for hours and hours waiting for people to start creating magic. Most people were truly just racing the sections, little tricks and turns but in the end everything worked out, did therapy for my broken back and took some fun pavones pictures this day. Eventually I met cool people from different regions of the world (Italy, Israel, Hawaii and US). It is important to mention that 90% of the people I met there flew into Panama and then headed out to Pavones. They mentioned that its cheaper to fly into Panama than Costa Rica and that it takes less time in better roads to drive from Panama than Costa Rica. I will post a surf package (Chiriqui Panama / Pavones) soon on my new website www.panamatravelagent.blogspot.com.

First bus out to Santiago

Little girl impressed by Rhino giving birth!

Guy making sure the Nitro is in correctly.

Felipe "Elixir" Arias, rocks star from (Los Flasheros)

Robert and I

Street to the Break from Lodging

The Line Up

This dude was going so fast he almost fly off

American who has been living here for 16 years I hear.

My new ripper friend Ingrid "Dean's Wife" from Hawaii

The coolest and most functional tent setup ever seen!

This is Mateo's car, pure style! he is also a photographer, dude if you see this, please send me your contact, I lost the paper where I wrote this, e mail me (fidelp11@gmail.com).